page_title: Madhyapur Thimi
section_title: Balkumari Temple
hierarchical_section_title: Madhyapur Thimi / Places of interest / Balkumari Temple
caption_attribution_description: English: Goddess Balkumari is the incarnation of goddess Durga.
context_page_description: Madhyapur Thimi, also known as Thimi, is a municipality in Bhaktapur District in the Bagmati Zone of central Nepal. Thimi lies between Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur in the Kathmandu Valley. It is one of the ancient cultural and historical places along the trade route from Bhaktapur to Kathmandu. The city is situated on elevated land and occupies an area of 11.47 square kilometres, divided into nine administrative wards.
  The mayor as of 2017 was Madan Sundar Shrestha of the Communist Party of Nepal of Nepal.
context_section_description: The people of Kathmandu valley have been worshiping four Ganesh, four Kali, four Kumari, four Varahi, four Mahalaxmi and four Ganga. Among the four Kumaris, one is Balkumari of Thimi. The temple of Balkumari is said to be about three hundred years old. Goddess Balkumari is regarded as the guardian deity of Thimi and she is the beloved goddess of Thimi. Ceremonial rituals in relation to important events of life including marriage, bratabanda etc. cannot be done without propitiating this deity.
  The present three storeyed temple of goddess Balkumari was built probably around the 17th century. This temple stands in the brick-paved rectangular courtyard with rest houses around it. There is a temple of lord Bhairab and some small shrines of different gods and goddess spread around the courtyard.
  The legends regarding the temple of goddess Balkumari say that  the merchants from ancient Thimi used to go to Lubhu for trading. One of them established a relationship with the princess of Lubhu. Soon the princess became pregnant. The princess asked the merchant to take her with him. The clever merchant put forward a condition that he would take her with him only if she agrees to bring goddess Balkumari with her to which the princess happily agreed. Since ancient times there were only four Balkumari temples in the Kathmandu Valley. Therefore when the pregnant princess was brought to Thimi, goddess Balkumari was also permanently shifted from Lubhu to Thimi since there could not be more than four major Balkumari temples in the valley. Till now as well to commemorate that a pregnant princess  brought the deity, there is a womb like structure just above the idol of the deity inside the ancient temple.
  Since goddess Balkumari is the primary deity of Thimi, during the annual Biska Jatra, her chariot is not taken to whole Thimi. Her chariot is taken only to the temple of Prachanda Bhairab. It is because, it is believed that the ancient city of Thimi was extended from Balkumari temple in the south and Pranchanda Bhairab temple in the north.
caption: Balkumari goddess
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